In the Public Eye

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 98, 27 April 1935, Page 26

In the Public Eye

The prominent Russian statesman, M. Maxim M. Litvinoff, who is figuring in the news as a result of the cancellation of his visit to Paris owing to a hitch in the initialling of the FrancoRussian Mutual Assistance Pact, belongs to that generation of Eussian revolutionaries favoured by Destiny who sowed the seeds of their creed and lived to see the harvest during their lifetime. Litvinoff was born in at Bielostoky a little town in Poland. His parents were Jewish "petty bourgeois.' He attended a gymnasium and then served in the army. Though already interested in Marxism while at school, ho appears to have joined a Socialist organisation, only in his twenty-second year. ' Soon he was arrested and condemned to five years' exile in Siberia, but escaped—as did all his now famous colleagues, not once but many times. Today nobody ever escapes from exile when it is ordered by the Soviet Government, though the number of political deportees on such grounds must be considerably greater. After leaving prison on his own accord, Litvinoff continued the normal course of events by proceeding to Switzerland. He was not spoiled, a's were many other youthful revolutionaries, by the comforts granted to "dangerous" exiles by the liberal Governments 0* the West and did not succumb to the amenities of "capitalist life." Twice Litvinoff returned to Russia an-i during the years of his revolutionary career before 1917 he used several false names to protect himself against discovery, both in Russia and abroad. For twenty years Litvinoff was concerned, with underground activities, much of the time as an agent between the revolutionaries inside and outside Russia. As a result he lived several lives simultaneously, going back end forth between different centres of revolutionary activity. When in Europe he assumed the role of an inoffensive bourgeois. In the years betore 1917 he conspired with the labouring masses within Rusisa, preaching to them, organising them, and meanwhile participating m the endless warfare for the correct interpretation of the revolutionary ideal that was going on among the different Marxist groups who were working to 'undermine Tsansm and Russian capitalism. Litvinoff educated himself in Western ways, and he is said to have been a teacher at the Berlitz School in Rotterdam during the Great War When the revolution broke out, he was a subordinate clerk in London with the Russian Imperial Committee of War Supplies, and when he heard of the collapse of Tsarism ha beamed with joy. Thirty years of intense life have served only to strengthen and mature the convictions of his youth—that the captalist system, ths institutions it has formed for its interests, and the ethics it has generated are immoral. He is one of those stronsj and rare characters who in a world they denounce as immoral has kept a clear unadulterated conscience of what the future should be. While constantly in touch with all aspects of bourgeois daily life Litvinoff has not lost his zeal in fighting this present world or his contempt for it and-the .motives as he sees them, of those who profit by exploitation of the proletariat. Ha laughs at the curious sensitiveness which hampers otherwise hardy men of "the party" in inhaling the same air as capitalists and then manifold "slaves." In rare moments of frankness Litvinoff has hinted that he likes to come to grips with the bourgeois m his own way, to defeat it with his own amis. Litvinoff married an Englishwoman of high standing. He makes an excellent husband, and dearly loves his children. Mr. Walter Runciman. Mr. Walter Runciman, the President of the Board of Trade, who in the House of Commons this week said that steps had been taken to ensure that the devaluation of the belga should not lead to abnormal exports of Belgian goods to foreign markets, was born' in 1870, and as a young man graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge, where he obtained the degree of B.A. in 1892 and M.A. three years later. He is also LL.D. of Manchester University. After unsuccessfully contesting Gravesend in 1898, he entered Parliament in the following year for Oldham, afterwards representing Dewsbury for many years, but his constituency now is Cornwall, St. Ives. He has occupied a number of Government positions such as President of the Board of- Education, President of the Bpard of Agriculture, and Chief Commissioner of Works, and was previously President of the Board of Trade from 19HJt0;1916 Mr. Runciman's gicat and valuable services to the Empire during the early-years of the Great War, when he was at the head of" the Board of Trade, have received little public recognition/ An eminent statesman, Viscount' Grey, however, in • his memoirs, pays warm and deserved tribute to 1 Mr. Runciman's work during a difficult and trying period. In spite of his politic* activities, Mr. Runciman still manages to find time for much public work on' behalf of 'the shipping firm which his family has controlled for a great many years as well as for the shipping industry generally. He took his Master Mariner's certificate at an early age and was a member of an Inter-department Committee.on Boy Seamen set up by the Government in 1906. During many years he was a member of the Advisory Committee of the Marine Department of the Board of Trade, and he is a past-president of the United Kingdom Chamber of Shipping He is chairman and director of many shipping organisations and has published a number of books on the sea and on Napoleon, Drake, and Nelson. His principal recreation is yachting.

A distinguished army, career has been led by Sir lan Hamilton, who in an interview this week said that while the evacuation of Gallipoli was, the most brilliant - tactical operation ever carried out by a British army, strategically it.'.was'; the most. _ ghastly blunder ever.perpetrated in the history of the world. ■ i ,• . ' Sir lan was born at Corfu on January 16, 1853. He joined the Army in 1872, and served with the 92nd Highlanders" in the Afghan War ,and: the Boer .War,'of ,1881, being severely wounded.on MajubajHill, where he had one arm permanently' disabled. He was fdr' several .years on the . staff of Lord ■ Roberts, and also served in / the Nile Expedition of 1884-85, for which he was promoted brevet-major, and in Burma in 1886-87, for which he was promoted- brevet lieutenant-: colonel. Promoted to colonel in 1891, he was on the staff of the Chitral Relief Forca in.-1895, for his services in which he received. the C.8.,' and he then became deputy-quartermaster-gen-eral in India. He commanded a brigade oh the North-West Frontier in 1897, andVwas afterwards commandant of the School of Musketry at Hythe for a year. Oh the outbreak of the South African War in 1899 he commanded a brigade in the early engagements around Ladysmith and during its siege, and was promoted major-gen-eral; after its relief he commanded a mounted infantry division during Lord Roberta's, advance from Bloemfontein to Pretoria and into the Eastern Transvaal, for which he was made a K.C.B. He took a prominent part in the voluntary service system; during the early years of the^ Territorial Force, and .the campaign in favour of compulsory service led by Lord Roberts; and in the course of this 'controversy, he published a- book under the: title "Compulsory Service,". which he. wrote at the request of Lord •Haldane. On the outbreak of the war in 1914 he served'for some months as Commander-in-Chief jbf the Home Defence Army in England. Then, in Marchi 1915, he was selected to take charge of the .Mediterranean Expeditionary Force,' which was intended to co-operate in opening a wayinto the Black Sea. The naval effort to force the Dardanelles haying failed, he found himself obliged to; undertake operations in ,'the Gallipoli "Peninsula, and he'succeeded in landing in $ie face of the enemy; but ,iri spite of this good beginning his forces were speedily brought to a standstill. Having, after considerable delay, received substantial reinforcements, he made a great effort to improve his position, but the operations failed to, accomplish what was intended, and a situation of stalemate arose, i The Government consuited :him'in October as to the expediency and feasibility of withdrawing from' the peninsula, and on his pronouncing himself strongly opposed to such a policy he was replaced by Sir C Monro and returned Home. He was given the G.C.M.G. for his'services, and was appointed Governor, of .the. Tower of London in 1919, but retired from the Army at-the end of the year. ' Lord Roberts, not long before his death; .was asked to name the ablest field commander' among all the gen-erals-.of the British Army. His choice fell upon the subject of this sketch. '.'He has. pot. the. imperturbable .quality of Sir John French," a: biographer wrote of Sir lan" in 1,1915, "for his temperament is that-of;the artist; and he once confessed half-jestingly, but. with a" certain seriousness, . that he had 'never gone .into' battle. without being in a -blue funk and' pondering how on earth-he was going to get through. John I), Rockefeller. ■' In of .the extraordinary condition of secrecy' in "which he" is living in' his winter home, The Casements, at Ormond, four miles from ; Daytona Beach; it was learned recently that Mr. John p. Rockefeller, sen., the' 95----years-old founder of one of the worlds greatest financial dynasties,, has been so ill with.a cold that his doctor has been visiting him twice daily.' . Even the Bank of England is not more-difficult for a stranger to enter than The Casements. ' , A high iron grill, surrounds the gardens and guards with a sentry box are' posted at the. gates.. • When by strangers concerning their, master the guards reply that they do not even know whether he is living there. ' ! Just over .two. years ago the .aged oil Icing's medical advisers \ decided that he must'lead a life of almost perfect peace-and quiet. Tttis decision has been Strictly' adhered to, and Mr. Rockefeller is now stated to be brighter and more alert, than, ever; When, as is hoped, he recovers from his.cold he;will resume the monk-like routine mapped out.for him.' ""■ '■ Under this he rises.at 10 o'clock and takes breakfast alone in his' suite tended by two" male nurses. Newspapers are read to him briefly. Then, if the weather is, fine, he enters a lift, specially installed to take him from the first floor to the garden to enjoy the sunshine. ■ . , After luncheon he takes an afternoon nap, and then gets into his motorcar and is taken round a driveway specially • built • within the boundaries of his estate. On returning to the house he drinks a large glass of orange juice,' which is always waiting for him. .-'. ■ , ■ ■ '■ '■■ In spite of his age, Mr. Rockefeller still takes a very active interest in finance,, and .before dinner gets the stock market, report ' and dictates business letters to his secretary. After dinner newspaper and'magazine articles, are read to him, and he retires to bed at 9 o'clock. And so he lives on from day to day, a wonderful old man, fully alive to everything happening in the wcfrkaday world outside, yet no longer of it.